New Radiator

[Cutch]

Finally got into Holt Caterpillar in Fort Worth, TX yesterday for a leaky radiator replacement. Dropped our coach off at 8am and got a call today at 10am all it was done. I cannot express how great they were. I'm picky and I can say that it was done with care and professionalism. If you are in the area and need service, go see Holt Caterpillar in Fort Worth, TX. Now off to Moab tomorrow.

[brobox]

Am I reading that right....they replaced the radiator in 2 hours?? My dealer with 2 guys took 1.5 days. No wonder I prefer a truck shop over an RV dealer on any major repairs.

[MRUSA14]

You misunderstood him Chuck. It was one day plus two hours.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

You misunderstood him Chuck. It was one day plus two hours.

I re-read it...You're right....still beat LD

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Ours is in right now at the Freightliner in Lexington KY for (probably) a radiator. We have the Cat 3126B engine with a side radiator. We had the dreaded red stream coming from the radiator area during a walk around on our last trip. . .. This will be the 4th radiator in this coach since new. This one lasted 2 years and 10 months. The last one was replaced by the previous owner just before we purchased it. They only re-cored it. If it is indeed the radiator, we will have the entire radiator replaced this time.

We dropped it off Monday at noon. I'll call them today if I haven't heard anything by noon. Wish me luck!

[dave&ginny]

Maybe they should make radiators easier to install on the RVs

[jbhobbs54]

I figured that they would pull it out the side, but then saw that they take them out the bottom. My guess is that typically the radiator should never have to come out for the life of the vehicle, so they save money by not making the body swing out for service. Mine was done at Spartan while I was in their maintenance class, so I got to see first hand how it was done by Spartan themselves.

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by jbhobbs54

I figured that they would pull it out the side, but then saw that they take them out the bottom. My guess is that typically the radiator should never have to come out for the life of the vehicle, so they save money by not making the body swing out for service. Mine was done at Spartan while I was in their maintenance class, so I got to see first hand how it was done by Spartan themselves.

Yeah on my 2013 the first rad replacement was done at Spartan, They used the coach jacks to lift it high enough over the pit to drop it out (ended up bending my jack pads but that's another story).

The second rad replacement on my 2013 was at Lazy Days Tampa and they used a portable lift to get it high enough.

[MRUSA14]

Rob, was there anything different between the first two radiators and the third that would make the third one last longer?

[voltdoc]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

Rob, was there anything different between the first two radiators and the third that would make the third one last longer?

Marc,
Don't know, we have since traded that coach and the third unit was before the root cause of the failures had been identified. As far as I know though the new owners have not had a problem with it. At the time of the most recent replacement Spartan assured me any future failures would be covered at no cost to me.

[classicalgas]

Originally Posted by Cutch

Finally got into Holt Caterpillar in Fort Worth, TX yesterday for a leaky radiator replacement. Dropped our coach off at 8am and got a call today at 10am all it was done. I cannot express how great they were. I'm picky and I can say that it was done with care and professionalism. If you are in the area and need service, go see Holt Caterpillar in Fort Worth, TX. Now off to Moab tomorrow.

I will be going to Holt Caterpillar in San Antonio and hoping my radiator gets replaced just as quickly as yours.

Is there an on-going problem with radiators on Entegra coaches?

I had been going along all happy and unconcerned until Sunday when I drove into NIRVC Lewisville for service and an engine oil leak.

[BHutting]

Mine will be changed when I go back to Beaver Coach Sales in Bend. On my last visit the found a slight leak and ordered a replacement. They told me that it was a modified version of the same radiator. Whatever that means? They claim that the inherent problem was identified and resolved with the replacement. I intend to photo document the difference between the original and the replacement radiator.

We will see!

[Gary.Jones]

Greg:

Yes, there have been several long and detailed threads on here about Spartan radiator problems on Entegra Coaches although I don't that it is specific to Entegra coaches. All Spartan K2 and K3 chasses from the general manufacturing time period of 2014 to sometime in 2016 are within the window of coaches that have had real problems with bad radiators. I am on my third one now. The third one, which became available sometime in 2016 I believe (I might be wrong on the date) is a new design and has epoxy added at the pressed joints of the horizontal fin channels to the large containers on the vertical sides of the radiator. The bottom right corner of the radiator when looking at the radiator from outside the coach and through the louver fins. That is the most common failure point. Many owners have had a second radiator installed, and quite a few are like me and have had 3 radiators installed, and although there are a lot of those 3 radiator owners, there are others who have had 4 and 5 radiators replaced in coaches from that vintage. The newest version is working just fine in my coach.

My radiators have been replaced by Spartan fully at their expense. Yes, the radiators are dropped out from the bottom. If a mechanic works on them non stop and does nothing else, it is probably a 4 or 5 hour job. I believe Spartan pays them around 8-12 hours to replace and that covers the talking and scratching and smoking, etc. etc.

If you want to read the long threads on radiator problems in that vintage of coach, go to the box up next to your sign on name and then pick to search this forum and enter something like "radiator fairy" (which was the tongue in cheek title of two of the long threads), or simply radiator leak and you will get all you care to read on the subject.

Gary

[Cranemec]

Consider yourselves lucky. We just did the radiator in my dads Newell. 2 mechanics, 2 days out, 2 days in. Which was half a day each way better than Newell allows.